Vodafone Idea Ltd.

Idea Cellular, India's fourth-biggest cellular carrier has signed service agreement with Networking gear maker Ericsson for providing managed services in five Indian telecom circles, which includes Mumbai, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, North East, and Assam.

As per the deal Ericsson will be accountable for managing network and field operations, maintenance activities for 2G and 3G sites, network design and planning, network performance improvement, and programme management for infrastructure. About 71 Idea employees will join Ericsson India as part of the agreement.

Prior to this Idea has signed first managed services contract with Ericsson in 2007 and the partnership between the two companies has now been extended from one circle to five circles.